Monday, February 27, 2012

Classroom management

Following on our discussions on the 22 february regarding the case study on the challenges faced by a new lecturer, I would like to pose the following to you. Reflect on an incident in the past that involved managing your class or dealing with a difficult student. How did you behave in that situation? Would you do things differently if you were faced with that situation now?

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Follow up on workshop on planning and preparation for teaching

Thank you for the lively discussion yesterday. The participation was very good but unfortunately there was insufficient time to pursue certain pertinent issues. If there is anything you would like to comment on, please feel free to do so on the blog. I am interested to know what challenges you, as CPUT lecturers, face in the implementation of innovative, learner-centered teaching approaches.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Planning and preparation for teaching and learning

Please see the agenda for the workshop in room 4.28, Engineering Building, 14h00-16h00. Please choose a topic for a lesson plan. You can bring your course/subject guides to the workshop.

TDP Agenda

Wednesday, 15/02/2012
Topic: Planning and preparation for teaching and learning
Outcome: Design a lesson plan
Facilitator: Dr. L. Hassan

14h00: Welcome, introductions and expectations

14h10-14h50: Understanding teaching
-Viewing of video (20 mins)
-Visual gathering- small group discussion(10 mins)
- large group discussion (10 mins)

14h50-15h00: Break

15h00-15h20: Constructive alignment (Biggs 2003)
Deep learning
Bloom’s taxonomy
-Interactive powerpoint presentation

15h20-15h40: Design of lesson plan
Mind map of lesson plan–individual activity

15h40-15h50: Discussion of homework task

15h50-16h00: Summary and closure

Homework task: Choose a topic (s) in your area of specialization and design 2 lesson plans in the form of mind maps. The lesson plan should include a rationale for the topic, specific outcomes, exit level outcomes, teaching and learning activities, formative assessment and summative assessment tasks. The time allocated to the different activities should be clearly illustrated. Resources/references should be included. Handouts should also be included for large and small group teaching. You will need to think of a video that you will need to produce on your teaching.

Readings and resources
* Biggs, J.B. 2003. teaching for quality leanring at university. Buckingham: Open University Press/Society for Research into Higher Education (2nd).
* Walsh, A. 2007. An exploration of Bigg’s constructive alignment in the context of work-based learning. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 32 (1): 79-87.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

2nd TDP session 8th of Feb 2012

The second session of this year's TDP will focus on the use of emerging technologies in teaching and learning.


Time and place: 8th of Feb, 2-4, computer lab, eLearning Center


References

Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second life, and Beyond: from production to produsage. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Herrington, J., Herrington, A., Mantei, J., Olney, I., & Ferry, B. (2009). Using mobile technologies to develop new ways of teaching and learning. In J. Herrington, A. Herrington, J. Mantei, I. Olney, & B. Ferry (Eds.), New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education (Vol. 9). Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong. Retrieved from ro.uow.edu.au/newtech

Oblinger, D. G. (2008). Emerging technologies for learning: Growing up with Google, What it means to education. I Can (Vol. 3). Retrieved from http://hcvs.wikispaces.com/file/view/Growing+Up+With+Google.pdf

Reeves, T. C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic learning and online learning. HERDSA (pp. 562-567).

Veletsianos, G. (2010). Emerging Technologies in Distance Education. Theory and Practice. Edmonton: AU Press. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120177/ebook/99Z_Veletsianos_2010-Emerging_Technologies_in_Distance_Education.pdf

Presentations:

Daniela's Prezi:




Jolanda's talk (podcast)



Jolanda's ppt:


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Participation Learning Action Techniques (PLA)

One of the activities we did in the last workshop, was the Community Map. Community mapping is a so-called Participation Learning Action (PLA) technique. PLA has evolved within the family of participatory methodologies used in development practice (Bozalek and Biersteker 2010). PLA techniques often uses visual learning methods which are adaptable and used flexibly to learn from and to evaluate people’s concerns. These techniques can promote critical reflection, which pays particular attention to the social arrangements of inequality and privilege (Thompson and Thompson 2008).

Of particular importance for PLA techniques is the collaborative interaction, these activities provide. In this activity all students (and not just a few vocal ones) are able to share their perspectives and begin their engagement with each other (Bozalek and Biersteker 2010, 554). In another technique, the “River of Life” exercise, students draw their River of Life and identify critical incidences on their life journey. They share and discuss their River of Lives in small groups.

We found these techniques particularly helpful when dealing with diverse classes, where students often do not engage across racial or language groups. We used it in an Education project, where the River of Life was done as start of a digital storytelling project. If you are interested in the final outcomes (the digital stories), some of the students' examples can be found here: http://edutechcput.wordpress.com/digital-storytelling-resources/

Can you see PLA techniques as useful in your own teaching? How would you implement them with your students?

This is my River of Life:





References

Bozalek, V., and L.Biersteker. 2010. “Exploring Power and Privilege Using Participatory Learning and Action Techniques.” Social Work Education 29 (5) (August): 551-572. doi:10.1080/02615470903193785. http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/02615470903193785&magic=crossref||D404A21C5BB053405B1A640AFFD44AE3.

Thomson, S., and N. Thomson. 2008. The critically reflective practitioner. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.